Not Just Another Endoskeleton: A JANaF Short

"Not Just Another Endoskeleton," A Just Another Night at Freddy's Short

Midnight came once more upon Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, and the main animatronic trio's eyes glowed softly in low light as their lockdown programming deactivated. Bonnie immediately stepped off of the stage, beginning the nightly hunt of the lone endoskeleton that felt it necessary to camp itself out in the Security Office every night.

They had to admit, he was crafty, and as the first week of the new skeletons arrival came and went, the robots noticed a brand new regular coming the following week. He called himself "Mike Schmidt", a strange coincidence as that was also the name bestowed upon the same irritatingly stubborn endoskeleton that appeared every night. Mike was nice enough, and seemed to have a surprising knowledge of Freddy and the others.

The bear watched Bonnie go straight down her usual hallway, and reflected back upon first seeing the other Mike.

-BREAK-

Business was slow, as per usual, with just a gaggle of families seated randomly among the Dining Area, munching on greasy pizza. Chica hadn't been able to cook the previous night due to it being the sixth one of the endoskeleton's presence in the office, meaning Freddy needed all hands on deck to try and put him into uniform before management noticed. The more time he spent suitless, the higher the chance he would be caught.

It was between shows, the curtains lowered and Freddy and the others frozen in show positions awaiting the next show time. They were still aware, and could see and hear, but couldn't move their limbs, eyes, mouths, or any other part of their own endoskeletons. It was dull, but occasionally the curtains wouldn't close and they could watch their human guests. The monotony was broken by the arrival of a man, stepping in from the stage door.

He looked unwell, face a sickly pale, with dark circles under his eyes and a sort of drowsy, drunk look about him, possibly from fatigue. He smiled sadly.

"Hey guys," he said, "Figured I'd introduce myself since, you know, I've been working here for a week now."

A week? The animatronics hadn't seen anybody new. Maybe he worked with the janitors?

The man continued to talk.

"I'm Mike, Mike Schmidt. You know, you guys don't look so bad during the day," Mike said, and walked up to Chica, looking her up and down.

"Is it true you make the pizza here?" Mike asked, "I mean, don't get me wrong, you just don't seem the cooking type. Well, if you do, I've always loved a good pepperoni, and it'd be great if you could deliver one to the Security Office tonight." The man snickered to himself as he said it, not taking himself seriously in the slightest.

If Chica could move, she would have imitated a huff of annoyance at the obvious disbelief in Mike's voice. Of course she made the pizza! Well, when they weren't dealing with endoskeletons, anyway. Yeah, she'd show this guy, and mentally accepted his challenge to leave a pizza in front of the office, for whatever odd reason.

Mike checked his watch and yawned, then pushed his way through the stage door.

"Well, I gotta get back. See you guys tonight!" Mike said, and departed.

What did he mean by that? Was he stopping by later? Hopefully he would leave before he found the suitless endoskeleton, or the animatronics could be in trouble.

-BREAK-

That night, the animatronics decided to ease up on the endoskeleton, allowing Chica to furiously assemble the perfect pepperoni pizza. She hurled the dough onto the cutting board and nearly broke the rolling pin in half flattening it out.

"'Do I make the pizza?'," Chica muttered to herself in a high pitched, mocking voice, "Of course I do, idiot! You want me to leave a pizza? Fine, I'll leave you such a good pizza your head will explode!"

Chica finished flattening the dough. She would have tossed it, but wasn't dexterous enough to catch it properly, but had found ways around it. Next came on the sauce, spread evenly across the dough with robotic precision, then cheese in much the same way. Pepperoni was dumped on as well, with exactly 22 individual slices arranged with no variation on the space between them.

Next, the perfect pie was slid into the oven, set at the EXACT proper temperature and baked for the EXACT, PERFECT amount of time. It was almost a Freddy level of obsessive compulsiveness.

As soon as the oven let out a merry ding signifying cooking was complete, Chica pulled the pie out and gently deposited it into a waiting pizza box, neatly closing it. She picked it up, grumbling, and stormed down the hallway, dropping it onto the ground in front of the lowered security door with little fanfare, before walking briskly back into the Kitchen to clean up her mess.

What Chica didn't see was Mike opening the door upon her departure, staring at the box in awe, before quickly pulling it inside. Cameras throughout the building flashed their little red LEDs as the guard quickly checked to make sure no one was sneaking up on him, before taking a bite.

In the Dining Hall, Bonnie could hear a faint "Holy shit!" sound from the office. She quickly disregarded it, and went to look at some artwork hung on a corkboard. The rest of the night passed without incident, aside from Foxy charging at the door, banging on it in frustration, and returning to his Cove fifteen minutes before six.

-BREAK-

The next day, the animatronics were once again visited by Mike. He walked straight up to Chica.

"Well... I honestly didn't expect you to do that. Thanks, I believe you now. That was seriously the best pizza I've ever had. Lord knows how you managed to learn that," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. He left awkwardly, having nothing else to say.

Chica mentally gave a smug grin. Her point had been made. But something about that Mike was starting to look familiar, and how did he get that pizza?

Meanwhile, over in the abandoned Pirate's Cove, Foxy sat on his treasure chest, charging as per usual. He could hear the sounds of the few children who visited the restaurant laughing and talking, depressed that he most likely wouldn't be able to see them again. Foxy sat facing the curtains that isolated the Cove from the rest of the restaurant, and was surprised to seem them pushed open by a tired-looking man in a dark blue uniform.

He left them ajar in order to let some light into the dark Cove, just a sliver that shone across Foxy's face, mouth agape as his loose jaw drooped. He sat down on the edge of the stage, facing the fox.

"Hey..." he greeted hesitantly, "I'm Mike, Mike Schmidt. You know, the night guard you're terrorizing?"

Night guard? There wasn't a night guard.

"Anyway," Mike continued, "I figured if I'm stuck with you at night I should at least see you guys during the day, when you're not trying to kill me."

Foxy wasn't trying to kill him. He wasn't trying to kill anybody, as far as he was aware.

"I read about the Bite, how that got you locked up. Details are sketchy, but I guess you bit some kid's frontal lobe of or something?" Mike asked.

Had Foxy been able to move, he would have growled and sternly corrected the man.

"Probably a good thing you're locked up. I'll be honest, you scare the crap out of me," Mike admitted.

Foxy felt a bit of pride. Good, he wasn't so sure he liked this Mike guy anyway.

"Still, it's kind of a shame they left you active all this time. You weren't my favorite, but I still don't like seeing you like this. What happened? You were so nice when I was a kid, if a little crazy. What happened to all of you guys? Didn't you wander around? Didn't you talk with all the kids and adults? Why the death? Why do you keep charging me, attacking the security office every night? What did I do?" Mike, at this point, was more venting all of his fear and frustration more than try and talk to Foxy, but the pirate listened all the same.

If he was complaining about being in the office, and of Foxy charging him, then that meant...

-BREAK-

That night, Foxy bolted out of his Cove to explain what he had heard.

"Tha's no' an endo in thar, tha's Mike!" Foxy declared. Freddy blinked.

"He does look similar," Chica agreed, "Hang on one second."

The chicken strode quickly for the office, keeping out of the security cameras' line of sight. Her screech could be heard, and the person in the Security Office screamed, followed by the clang of a security door. Chica walked back.

"Sounds like him too. That explains how he got the pizza, I was delivering that to him," Chica said.

"So that's how he knew about us!" Bonnie agreed. Foxy nodded.

"Tha lad even took tha time ta visit me in me Cove," Foxy added. Freddy clapped his paws.

"Well, that changes things. Clearly we've made a mistake, and Mike is most certainly staff, and not out of uniform. Such a nice change from all those others," Freddy said.

"Don't you think we should go apologize?" Bonnie asked, "He's probably upset about being treated as an endo."

Freddy nodded.

"If you feel it necessary, by all means," Freddy approved.

Bonnie smiled and headed towards the Security Office. The door closed as she walked by the window, Mike staring out at her in fear. The rabbit stared as well, before reluctantly returning to the Dining Hall.

"He doesn't want to talk," she announced.

Chica shrugged.

"Fine with me, less I gotta worry about," she said, and headed for the Kitchen. Foxy shrugged as well and headed for his Cove.

-BREAK-

Throughout the second week, a mutual agreement was made between the animatronics and Mike. He visited nearly everyday, talking to the unmoving animatronics. In return, at night, the animatronics for the most part left him alone, except for Foxy who took a shine to trying to scare him as much as possible. If Mike didn't want to open the doors and talk to them, that was fine. It wasn't until the first night of the third week that things changed.

"Um, could Freddy and his band re-report to the Security Office? The, uh, right door only please..."